It took seventeen days for Santiago Botero to let us know he was riding the Vuelta, but he did in such a great way ... The Colombian added one more stage victory to his palmares, and just like Lombardi and Smetanine before, stormed into the riders' standings with a 30-point score. The man from Medellín wasn't the only so far disappointing rider to grab first points on Tuesday. Aitor Osa, who suddenly took the lead in the actual Vuelta's KOM competition, José Enrique Gutiérrez "Guti" Cataluña and David Plaza at last provided something for all players that chose them. Brand new points also for Cipo's leadout man Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero and two lesser-known Spaniards.

Erik Zabel, who finally won a sprint (but it was for sixth place only ...), is more leader in the riders' classification, while "wünderteam" Kelme gained 15 further points and opened hardly a bridgeable gap over their ONCE rivals. Six more riders (among them Camenzind and Etxebarría) said goodbye to the Vuelta.